John Phillips: Matt Drudge the most influential conservative

Generally speaking, incumbent members of the House of Representatives are huge favorites when they run for reelection. Even when a year is considered bad for incumbents, very few lose. North of 90 percent of them end up victorious in November.

It's even more uncommon for one of them to lose in the primary, and it’s completely unheard of for a member of the House leadership to lose in the primary. But that’s exactly what happened to Virginia Republican Eric Cantor, who was House Majority Leader when he was stunned by Tea Party newcomer Dave Brat this month.

The conventional wisdom among Washington insiders is that Eric Cantor lost touch with his conservative constituents, and the voices of AM talk radio pummeled him on a daily basis, catching him vulnerable and flat-footed.

Writing in Politico, Dylan Byers summed up Cantor’s loss with the following: “Brat’s surprise victory is a powerful reminder, as if any were needed, of the immense influence talk radio has over conservative politics – it was not only (Laura) Ingraham boosting Brat, but also Glenn Beck and Mark Levin bringing their considerable influence with the Right to bear as well. Since well before the rise of the Tea Party, establishment Republicans have feared the medium’s command over the conservative base.”

Ingraham agreed, telling Byers, “I helped shine a light on a race where the establishment was vulnerable. I helped give Brat a platform that he was not getting through any other media outlet. ... The national media wasn’t giving him his due and national Tea Party groups weren’t lifting a finger to help him. … I knew that if he had a little bit of a boost, he would make a really good run at this.”

There’s no doubt that talk radio was influential in both putting Dave Brat on the map and keeping the heat on Eric Cantor, but that's only half the story. Make no mistake, Eric Cantor lost reelection because of one issue – illegal immigration.

Or, as the Daily Caller’s Mickey Kaus put it in a tweet, “Cantor’s loss wasn't about immigration the way the Civil War wasn’t about slavery. You can make a second-order argument ... but no. It was.”

It’s clear that establishment Republicans are eager to cut a deal with the White House that would result in creating a pathway to citizenship for between 11 million and 20 million people living in the country illegally. Most rank-and-file House Republicans ran on the platform of opposing any kind of perceived amnesty, but it’s on the wish-list of their benefactors in big business, and GOP political strategists are telling them it’s necessary for their future electoral success. So if a deal were to happen, it would be because House leadership twisted enough arms to get the necessary votes.

Eric Cantor became the face of leadership.

But that begs the question, how did illegal immigration become THE issue in a rural Virginia House race nowhere near the border? Easy. Two words: Matt Drudge.

For many of the weeks leading up to the election, Drudge’s hugely influential website, “The Drudge Report,” was covered with banner headlines about tens of thousands of illegal immigrant children flooding over the southern border. This coverage put the issue on the map for radio talk show hosts, cable news pundits and probably even for Cantor’s opponent, Dave Brat.

When all of the votes were counted, and it was clear that Cantor had lost the election, Drudge featured a picture of the soon-to-be-former majority leader, with President Obama’s hand on his shoulder as he is walking out of an office with the headline, “D.C. Rocked: Cantor Loses Primary.”

Drudge is right; Cantor lost, amnesty is dead, and if there was any question before, the issue is now settled – Matt Drudge is the most influential conservative in the nation.

Staff opinion columnist John Phillips can be heard weekdays at noon on “Mid Day LA” on KABC/AM 790 in Los Angeles.

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